Miniblogging: Tumblr

Friday, September 05, 2008

The research, which was carried out by Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University, is said to be the largest such study ever undertaken.

It suggested classical music fans were shy, while heavy metal aficionados were gentle and at ease with themselves.

Professor North described the research as "significant" and "surprising".

But are they either? Aside from a discovery that heavy metal fans are "gentle" - only a surprise if you don't know large numbers of metal fans who still live with their Mums and assume that metal is closer to practicing satanism rather than playing cowboys and indians.

I'm also a little unsure about the methodology - the research that Professor North is releasing today seems to have adopted a different approach to the current survey, which shows you pairs of lyrics and asks which you prefer before then inviting you to say how much you share your worries with your partner, and so on.

The partner questions suggest if you don't have a partner, you should think about your relationship with your most recent ex, and if you don't have one of those, you should talk about the sort of relationship you'd like to have, which seems to be a bit pointless. One of the questions is 'how far do you agree you worry your partner might leave you' - surely if you're thinking about an ex, you'd have to answer 'completely' and if you're imagining a perfect partner, you'd say 'not at all'?